This invention relates to electrical cords and their connection to wall plug type fittings, and more particularly to a stop device arranged for attachment to the outer sheathing of a cord associated with a cord recoil mechanism for the purpose of preventing the electrical plug or other fitting on the end of the cord from being disconnected from the cord by impact with the housing of the recoil mechanism upon full retraction of the cord by the recoil mechanism.
Automatic cord recoil mechanisms are well known in the art, and vacuum cleaners and utility lights are typical examples of articles which utilize spring loaded rewinding mechanisms to conveniently store the electrical cord when not in use. A slight tug on the cord unlocks a spring tensioned drum which collects the electrical cord as it rotates within an enclosure housing.
It is extremely common that electrical devices employing such rewinding mechanism suffer from the inherent problem of the electrical wall plugs on the end of the cord being pulled free of the cord by the hard impact of the plug contacting the housing after the rewinding mechanism has fully rewound all of the cord. Heretofore, the plug typically provides the stopping abutment which prevents any further winding of the apparatus. In the case of the utility light, clothes line or other cord devices having an automatic rewind apparatus, the particular fitting at the end of the cord abuts the rewind housing, and all such fittings tend to suffer similarly under the impacts of repeated use.
Plug protectors addressing the problems associated with the inadvertent separation of the plug from its cord have been provided heretofore. However, they relate strictly to contructions involving specialized electrical plugs arranged to engage an electrical cord or its conductor wires in a manner which prevents separation of the wires from the terminals when pulling the plug out a wall socket by pulling on the electrical cord itself.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,054,612, 1,276,216, 2,716,741, 2,774,948, 2,913,791, and 1,804,474 illustrate various ways of securing a plug to an electrical cord. No reference has been found, however, which contemplates the provision of a stop which is easily attachable to the outer sheathing of a cord for absorbing the impact associated with stopping an automatic cord rewind mechanism rather than allowing the plug to be subjected to such impacts.
Additionally, no reference has been found which provides a device, attachable to a cord or a plug, arranged to limit the degree of bending permitted the cord relative to its engagement to a plug or similar fitting. Particularly with electrical cords, when the cord is forced into sharp bends at its juncture with the electrical plug, the conductor wires are subjected to bending and premature breaking.